Mr President of the Committee, dear Dominique RAIMBOURG;
Representatives of associations, ministries,
Ladies and gentlemen of the commission,
We will sign together the charter «Culture-Gens du Voyages et Tsiganes de France».
This signature is the culmination, I believe, of a sincere and profound work of consultation and exchange that testifies to the shared desire to make better use of and enhance the culture of travellers. Personally, I wanted to say that I am very sensitive to it, because the way we treat minority cultures says a lot about who we are, in our majority.
It is also the commitment of a new stage in the full recognition of the citizenship of the travelling people and Gypsies of France, in the renewal of cultural policies and in a policy of memory which is indispensable and which is also the basis of these policies of citizenship and culture.
You know that the department is very much committed to actions that develop respect for, and knowledge of, cultural diversity.
And what you represent, your professions and your traditions, that of music, animation, poetry, celebration, circus, know-how handed down from generation to generation, are certainly a minority but very important part, the history of our country and this part must be better known.
I count on the reciprocal commitments of this charter to build meetings that will make it possible to dispel indifference, contempt or rejection, and to consolidate the brotherhood between the men and women of this country.
Because what would be the alternative? The alternative is the absence of culture, the absence of knowledge, the absence of respect; the alternative is violence. The violence that is expressed, always on the scapegoat, according to a phenomenon that we know well and yet that repeats from generation to generation. We, as a society collectively, must work to ensure that this does not happen again.
The Ministry of Culture, at the national level, (I want to thank the General Secretariat who worked on it), and in all the regions, thanks to the regional cultural affairs directorates, the DRAC, will support, with you, many projects that will help to get to know you better, to make you better known, in all these gestures that you know, in your history and in the traditions that you wear.
It is in this spirit that the Ministry of Culture has just renewed for three years the multi-year agreement of objectives, signed with the FNASAT-Travel People. This association develops, through its media library, the knowledge of the actions conducted by travellers in the cultural field. The convention consolidates and expands its documentary, archival and cultural resources. I salute the action of this association and in particular its president, Dr.Laurent El Gohzi and its director, Stéphane Léveque. They have been most active in raising the department’s awareness of the plight of travellers and the new way in which we must look at their culture.
Among the symbolic gestures that testify to the will of the State to stand up against any form of violence, discrimination or ostracism towards you, I wanted to mention one that is particularly important to me because it is a Republican symbol and these symbols must be used: the President of the Republic has just elevated to the rank of Knight of the Legion of Honour, Alexandre Romanes, (whom I greet as well as his wife Delia) who embodies with great heart the Gypsy culture, his share of culture, but who, like many of you, suffers from acts of intolerance, but also violence.
This moment of encounter with you is also part of the tribute that the State will pay to internees under very specific conditions during the Second World War. This tribute is scheduled at the end of October in Montreuil Bellay. Once again, it is a strong message that the Republic addresses to all the population to denounce the acts or words of hatred, discrimination or intolerance, as well as the terrible fate of imprisonment and deportation that has been reserved for these families.
This moment of remembrance and national tribute will make known the remarkable work of Jacques Sigot, the teacher of Montreuil Bellay. He was the one who discovered the site and spent 40 years defending it, tracing the history of these incarcerated families, explaining it to the children and writing his memory. It was for this work of writing, memory and transmission that I wished that he be elevated to the rank of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.
The first ever national artistic commission directed to the travelling public has been placed by the Ministry of Culture on Armelle Benoit, a renowned ceramist: At the end of October, the public presentation of this work will pay tribute to those who were interned in Montreuil Bellay, and elsewhere, during the Second World War.
This tribute which will be paid by the Nation, we owe the initiative to the National Consultative Commission of Travellers, and to you, in particular, dear Dominique Raimbourg. You have given the Committee a new energy, that of your convictions, and above all, you have defended with the same force several amendments relating to Travel People within the framework of the Equality and Citizenship Act debated in the Assembly this summer. You have carried with conviction the reform of the choice of domicile, the strengthening of the means of action in favor of the reception or a diversified habitat and the repeal of the notebook of sad memory. This bill is coming up next week in the Senate. This will be an important and difficult step, as the Senate majority opposes many of these advances that have been permitted by the Assembly.
But the law can’t do everything. Its full effects require the intervention of all public actors and variations as close as possible to the realities on the ground. This Charter takes on its full meaning.
In this field as in all fields of public action, the work of the voluntary sector is essential and I wanted to thank you for that. Thanks to platforms for access to rights, information and guidance, associations are often the last bulwark against extreme insecurity and isolation. They will be natural partners in the projects that will be implemented through this charter.
I wanted to thank all of you who made this charter possible. I welcome your involvement and your willingness to create a useful foundation for the future.
This charter marks the commitment of the Ministry of Culture, but it is also a stone of a larger whole that commits the whole State. Some issues are obviously difficult and involve a number of departments and involve a lot of cooperation. But I wanted to testify, by signing this charter and by my words before you this morning, to the Government’s major commitment on this issue. I wanted to tell you that you can count on me, on the Ministry of Culture, to work in this direction, beyond what we will sign today.
Thank you.